Trump vs. DeSantis: even the polls do not agree

The growing rivalry between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis has gone on unabated for months. Although the governor has not made his candidacy for the GOP presidential primary official, many are pointing to the fact that he will be the former president's main rival. What is certain is that not even the polls are able to agree on who would be the winner in a possible confrontation between these two Republican leaders.

Two polls released just days apart show completely disimilar results with large differential ranges between Trump and DeSantis.

Donald Trump with an 18-point lead

A new Public Policy Polling survey gives an 18-point lead to Trump (49%) over DeSantis (31%) in the GOP presidential primary race. The other candidates -or possible candidates- present in the poll (Nikki Haley and Mike Pence) only tallied 5% support each from voters.

In a close question for respondents on whether they prefer Trump or DeSantis, the former president holds the lead with 49% to the governor's 41%.

And when asked about their "favorable opinions" between the two leaders, Trump gets 75% favorable opinions over 15% unfavorable opinions. As for DeSantis, the governor has 71% favorable versus 8% unfavorable.

While both leaders are widely popular among GOP voters, this poll shows clear support and endorsement for former President Donald Trump in all questions that were asked of voters.

This survey was conducted on March 9 and 10 among 616 "likely Republican primary voters."

Pennsylvania Republican Poll 31323 by Verónica Silveri on Scribd

Ron DeSantis with 25-point lead

Despite the above poll giving a clear lead to former President Trump, another poll - also new - found that DeSantis would beat Trump by nearly 25% if they were to face each other in the Republican primary.

The poll conducted by the University of North Florida's Public Opinion Research Laboratory (PORL) found that DeSantis garnered 52% of the vote, compared to Trump's 27%. In this poll, Nikki Haley received 4% of the vote and Mike Pence got 2%.

When placed in a head-to-head election between DeSantis and Trump, the Florida governor received 59% of the vote, while the former president received 28% support.

That DeSantis outperforms Trump indicates that Florida Republicans have changed their opinion of the former president, having largely supported him in the 2016 and 2020 primaries. Dr. Michael Binder, PORL faculty director and political science professor stated that it is "not surprising to see DeSantis take the lead among Republicans in his home state of Florida." However, he added that it is "interesting to see his lead jump from 25 to 31 points."

This PORL survey was conducted from February 25 to March 7 among 1,452 registered voters.

What is clear is that either candidate would beat Joe Biden

While Republican voters may not be able to agree on who would be their designated front-runner for the presidential race, what Americans in general do know is that they do not want President Joe Biden to stay in the White House.

In January, a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll indicated that either Trump or DeSantis would defeat President Joe Biden and become the new president, should the election be held at that time.

The survey concluded that for 65% of respondents Biden should not run again in 2024. Of the participants, 46% said they would support Trump versus 41% who said they would vote for Biden and 13% who said they were"uncertain at the time." The percentage was somewhat lower in the case of the governor of Florida, although he would also beat Biden with 42% support to the president's 39%.

This survey was conducted on a total of 2,050 people.